I got the hardcover for Christmas and started reading it but switched to audible this week. I can second this recommendation. Geddy doing the narration adds a whole lot more to the enjoyment.
treasure
I absolutely love my Kindle because of all the books that I can borrow from my library! Unfortunately there’s a huge wait for this book (8 weeks).
It's worth the wait. Still, waiting sucks.
Same - FWTK / Hemispheres is the sweet spot for me after being introduced via All The World's a Stage (such a great live album, I have difficulty listening to studio versions of those early tracks). Saw them on the Hemispheres and MP tours. Lost interest after MP back in the day, but I've come back to the post MP catalogue later in life and have warmed up to it (Signals, PW, Test for Echo in particular). Still the guitar tones are more and more to my taste (heavier / crunchier) the farther back in the catalogue I go. The book aligned with my perception of them as dedicated to advancing their music and to each other as life long friends.
For sure…the book has me doing the same. I’m sort of methodically going through the discography I missed. Using the book, their website information and remembering where I was in my life during that time period I’m going to listen through the albums with the new found knowledge giving them a fair shake. I do know a few of the songs from Signals and PW. I remember seeing the Roll The Bones video a few times.
Being an early era Rush fan coming back to the middle era albums (Grace thru Test for Echo) many years later, I found that I had to set aside my nostalgia for the style and sound of the earlier stuff (up to MP), and appreciate, without expectation, those middle albums in a different context with keyboards prominent and a Lifeson tone / style that is quite different. Doing that, I find myself reaching for those albums more frequently now (I've been playing Signals a LOT lately). Now, my least favourite era is actually the Counterparts forward albums where they came back to a more guitar based sound, but to my ear, the heavy guitars on those later albums is a bit dark and does not have as much of the "crunchy hair" I hear on the early albums. From a vocals standpoint I love Geddy's shriek and somewhat higher range that's found much more on the early stuff (maybe not physically possible later on). That's the great thing about the Rush Catalogue: there's lots of content there and it goes to a lot of different places over it's lifespan, unlike other bands that stuck to the same formula throughout (AC-DC comes to mind as an extreme example, never straying an inch from the tried and true over many albums - but that's whole other thing and what they did is perfect for them).
Just to be completely clear Permanent Waves was a let down (disappointment) only because I was wanting more of the large concept (both lyrically and musically) while maintaining their rawness type album much like @sprint. At that time things were changing fast with Prog and I was bumming about many bands going in more commercial directions or disbanding all together. I wasn’t completely thrilled about Yes’ 90125 at first, yet I was loyal and into albums like Tormato and Drama. I warmed up to much of the music on P-Waves and Moving Pictures and definitely most all Trevor Rabin Yes. Heck I played Free Will, Spirit of the Radio and YYZ along with La Villa Strangiato in bands and as go to songs when jamming. Well not so much La Villa, that was a song me and 3 guys perfected in a short lived band in 1981.
His Big Book of Bass should have been a hardcover purchase as I think it’s a perfect coffee table book. Thanks for the recommendations! I guess I’ll buy it.